I cast my eyes to the summer sky. The stars area strung across the velvety night. A shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning night into day…

I make a wish.

Hitch Hiking in Jordan starts with a big bang. I find myself in a car with 4 young local dudes. They don’t speak a single word English but they are obviously amused by picking up a hitch hiker. I must be their first one. We are driving on the highway, approximately 20 km per hour. The driver keeps on filming with his phone almost the entire ride and they ask me to dance. ‘Get down for what’ is bursting out of their car speakers. I would not be surprised if I am on Youtube by now. ‘Tattoed German dude dancing to Lil Jon’ – that’s what I expect. Google translator gives up as well. Apparently it’s not made for translating Arabic language. Half an hour later the police makes us stop at a highway control.

They want something from me but I can’t figure out what. Okay, let’s try Google translator one more time. ‘I wish good fortune and get cookies’ – Well, I am pretty sure that’s not what they were trying to say. They make me leave the car, grab my backpack and wait. Wait for ‘I have no fucking clue’. My lift leaves and I am wondering what’s about to happen next. And it will take me just another 20 minutes to figure that out. The police man stop tourist buses and ask if they can give me a lift to Petra. It works out. A small bus with an American tourist tour – this turned into a first class lift. A lift that will bring me straight to my Couchsurfing host.

Abdallah, that’s my host’s name. I read on his profile that he owns a hotel, so I expected a little guest house with a spare room. But I was wrong. It’s an actual hotel, I get welcomed with a coffee and a key to my apartment. A private room, an own bathroom, aircon and a bloody comfy bed. Exactly what I needed after being on the road for more than 3 months.

Alright, let’s do what everyone in Wadi Musa does. Let’s explore Petra! The entrance fee is 70 Dollars. My jaw dropped. But there’s no way in missing out on Petra, there’s no way in missing out on one of the 7 wonders of the world. And let me tell you, even though the entrance fee is a rip off, visiting Petra for 2 days was worth every single Cent. This ancient city has it’s own charm, it’s own people and the landscape is just stunning. I spent 2 days exploring, 2 days that allowed me to make friends with several Bedouin people, 2 days that made my jaw dropped once again, 2 days that made my legs as tired as they have never been before.

Besides Petra the city itself does not have much to offer for most tourists. Like I said, for most tourists.. I totally enjoyed walking around even though it got exhausting quite fast. At some point I felt like being a local attraction because of my arms. Pretty much everybody invited me for tea, cigarettes or just wanted to touch my arms.

I moved to a new Couchsurfing host after 3 hotel nights. And it was a totally different experience.Ramzi and his friend Sinpel took good care of me. We slept one night in the desert, cooked local food while listening to Arabic music and tried to convince other tourist of joining our daily evening trips. A tattooed dude and 2 Arabic dudes asking random people to join for a night in the desert. Yeah, this might have been just a tiny bit sketchy. Anyway, we found another German girl, 2 English people and some more Dutch. We teamed up with some more local people and had something like a party.

I wont forget these 2 nights, 2 nights under a sky full of stars. When the first shooting star appeared, I made a wish. This happened to me 2 times already while traveling. So far these wishes always came true. I hope it won’t be any different this time.

I can’t believe what I was witnessing that night. There were at least 10 shooting stars during the course of our little desert party. Reminded me of this ‘Armageddon‘ movie opening scene in which asteroids hit the earth. Fortunately no Eiffel Tower got destroyed this time. I have never seen something like this before. I did even run out of wishes at some point. It’s these moments that make me feel nostalgic. It’s these moments that let me think of what happened within the last 3 months. This is my 20th Blog Post and sometimes I find myself scrolling through the old ones….and I can’t believe what has happened so far.

I got a Robin Williams quote tattooed on my arm. ‘Make your life spectacular. I know I did’ – I feel like I am on a good way. I make a wish. I wish the rest of my trip will be as breathtaking, as insane and as packed with amazing people as it has been in the last 3 months.

I will take another flight soon to get back into Europe and head back towards Germany. Guys, you should get ready slowly. I am coming home soon!